


Regulus' Farewell

by Sionna_Raven



Series: Background fics to 'Snacks and Letters' [10]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-21
Updated: 2011-06-21
Packaged: 2017-10-20 14:56:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/213978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sionna_Raven/pseuds/Sionna_Raven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before he leaves for the cave Regulus writes a letter to the two people he wishes to be at his side</p>
            </blockquote>





	Regulus' Farewell

**Author's Note:**

> This has originally been written to be part of the main story 'Snacks and Letters'. I changed my mind to spare Regulus the embarrassment and S. the tears of regret.

Grimmauld Place, London, late 1979

 

Dear S.,

 

I'm writing this for you, my brother and my friend. I found out that the Dark Lord has lied to us and I decided to act. He said he'd bring back the old times of Merlin and Gwydeon, when wizards ruled and magic was respected. He promised to bring us out of hiding and teach us the ancient spells which fearsome idiots in the Ministry call Dark, because they don't have the power to cast them. He lied to us, my friend. The only thing he's interested in is his own immortality. He doesn't have a clue what pureblood heritage really means.

If he did, he'd treated Kreacher with respect. Kreacher's ancestor decided to live with mine, before the tapestry was made. He is part of our family. Kreacher raised us, me and you, my brother. He nursed us, when we were sick, fed us and bathed us. He held us in his arms, when we had nightmares and told us stories, sang lullabies to make the boggarts leave. His mother had done the same for grandfather Arcturus and our father. Grandfather beheaded her out of love and respect, when she asked him to. He owed her a death in honour and dignity. The Dark Lord thinks they are just slaves, property to be used as it pleases a wizard. He doesn't understand that the bonds of love and loyalty are stronger than the enslavement spells. Doomed the elf who betrays his family and twice doomed the wizard who betrays his elf.

I will make amends for my foolish blindness and try to destroy the Horcrux. Kreacher got out of the cave and with a bit of luck I'll make it, too. If not, our mother and Kreacher are safe at Grimmauld Place. Father saw to that; the wards and curses to protect the house and its inhabitants are so strong and complex that not even the Dark Lord can break them. Family legacy again, Phineas Nigellus studied the protections of Hogwarts, passed his knowledge to his eldest son Sirius who passed it to grandfather Arcturus who taught our father. Father broke with the tradition; he made both of us learn the incantations by heart, since we were five. Why me, too? Because you made a show of it to pretend you don't listen. For one year father tried to make you; it was a nightmare. Then he gave up and started teaching me. He insisted that you stayed with us, but didn't waste any more time on you. I still wonder why father never noticed that you listened to every word and remembered. You used this knowledge to sneak out at will. You could drive me crazy with your amazing memory for seemingly unimportant details. You can dig out one thoughtless remark one has made ages ago in an instant and use it against one or suddenly produce a surprise gift of something mentioned only once and already forgotten.

I wish I could tell you now, about the Dark Lord, about the Horcrux, but I can't hope that you will even listen to a Death Eater. You only listen to Potter. What power he holds over you, I don't understand. I lost you the day you met him. Not even for me you would leave him and not even for you I can stand him.

You are the one other person I wish I could confide in, my friend. I'm not afraid that you hand me over to the Dark Lord, though there's no doubt you are loyal to ~~our~~ your master, but you would try to talk me out of it. You have to believe in our cause. It's the only thing you've got left, since that red-haired Muggleborn dropped you. You called her Mudblood. Big deal! One slip, after all those years of protecting her from our house mates. She probably never noticed. Gryffindors are that stupid. 

It's ironic that the two people I really want at my side for this task hate each other so much. You are so much alike and so different at the same time, two sides of the same coin.

There was a time when I dreamt of a time-turner to get back to the train for your first journey to Hogwarts. To hold off Potter, maybe get Evans out of the way for just ten minutes. I'm sure you'd become friends. We could have been friends and I wouldn't have spent the last three days to find out how to destroy a Horcrux.

I don't know what happened between you in your 5th year, only the rumours.

I should burn this parchment, but I want it to remain. I'm scared to go, scared not to make it back and perhaps most scared of where to go, if I make it back.

I have listened to father's teaching and repeated the spells until I knew them by heart. I know how to spell a parchment only readable to certain people. I will make this only readable to both of you, together. Maybe one day you'll come looking for me. I want you to know. I wish I'd found a spell to make you see each other through my eyes.

You, dear brother, can be a real pain in the back, arrogant, self-righteous, stubborn heir to the House of Black.... yes heir, you bloody idiot; Mother and Father couldn't break the magic of the entail, even if they had tried.... I know for sure, because when Father gave me the ring on his death bed, it didn't really fit. I wear it on a chain for safety. Sorry brother, if you want it, you've got to come and get it.

Dealing with you, my friend, is often like walking through a minefield, never knowing when I make a false step and you explode right in my face. I don't really mind. That's the way you are. I always liked you and that wasn't because you corrected my potion homework and let me win at chess.

It doesn't matter anyway. When you read this, you have already found a way to get along and I am dead.

I am at peace for the fact that you are both alive and together means that neither the Dark Lord nor Potter has won.

 

Yours always

Regulus Arcturus Black

 

 

 


End file.
